S Damodarana was awarded Padma Shri award in 2022 for his major contribution in the field of social work.
He was the first graduate in his family, from a very early age, Mr. Damodaran was determined to serve society in a meaningful way.
He was instrumental in declaring India’s first village Thanadavampatti as 100% open defecation free in Tamil Nadu and declared India’s first slum Kalmandhai as an open defecation-free zone.
He has designed the innovative child friendly toilet models suitable for urban slums, anganwadi centres and for the schools.
With his mentorship, Guardian Microfinance Institution, the first MFI in the world was promoted by Gramalaya which is only providing loans for household water connections and toilet construction.
Social Work
S. Damodaran is the Founder of Gramalaya, started in 1987.
Gramalaya is an Indian Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO) that has recently led successful campaigns in the rural and urban areas of Tamil Nadu.
As of 2022, as an approved key resource centre of the Ministry of Jalshakti Gramalaya has been actively involved in community-led sanitation programmes aimed at eradicating open defecation and replacing it with safe personal hygiene protocols and eco-friendly toilets.
For the past six years, Gramalaya has been working in menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls by promoting reusable cloth sanitary napkins.
It is also looking at reducing malnutrition among young children.
